title: Preparation and characterization of sponge film made from feathers.
abstract: Feather wastes generated from poultry farms will pose a problem for disposal, but they are sustainable resources of keratin. Reduction is one of the commonly used methods to obtain soluble keratin from feather. However, the residues generated during feather reduction reaction were rarely investigated. In this study, the residues were transformed into a porous and flexible sponge film by freeze-drying without pretreatment or addition of cross-linking agents. Glycerol was used to alter the physical and chemical characteristics of the sponge film. The film was characterized with a fiber strong stretch instrument, a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer, scanning electron microscopy, an elemental analyzer, a differential scanning calorimeter and an automatic air permeability apparatus. Tensile strength and melting point of the sponge film with the optimum glycerol content were 6.2 MPa and 170°C respectively. Due to air permeability of 368 mm/s, the film can potentially be used in medicine, biology, textile, environmental technology, and so on. It is ecologically friendly and will produce additional benefits from the renewable materials. The film was utilized as adsorbents to remove Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions and as a filtering material for air pollution. Its maximum Cr(VI) uptake capacity was about 148.8 mg/g and the removal rate of PM10 was 98.3%.
authors.affiliation: College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Xiaoqian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Zhangjun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Xiaoxiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Meihua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Pin
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D000818:Animals; D002645:Chickens; D002857:Chromium / Q000737:chemistry; D005241:Feathers / Q000737:chemistry*; D005990:Glycerol / Q000737:chemistry; D007633:Keratins / Q000737:chemistry; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000737:chemistry; D044367:Phase Transition; D016062:Porosity; D013718:Tensile Strength
chemical_list: D052638:Particulate Matter; D002857:Chromium; D007633:Keratins; D005990:Glycerol
keywords: Biomaterial; Feather; Reduction reaction; Sponge film; Waste treatment